The mouth of a loose woman is a deep pit;
he with whom the Lord is angry falls into it.
–Proverbs 22:14
Nobody wants to fall into a hole. Several examples come to mind: Alice’s fall into the rabbit hole, Jessica McClure’s fall into a backyard well (1987), and the more recent fall of a baby onto train tracks in India. We fear falling into the unknown dangerous place. And if we happen to escape falling in the real world, we encounter it in dreams, nightmares or imagination. Who, after all, has not feared their plane falling out of the sky? Falling into the unknown is frightening, whether real or imagined.
Once I bungee jumped. Once. Up to that point I had never encountered the fear I felt that day — of jumping into the rope that was attached for my safety. The logic was mind-bending. It seemed the rope should extend upwards, to some firmly established location above my head. To see the rope dangling from my waist was mind-blowing. To jump into it came close to being the most courageous (and dumbest) thing I have ever done.
We guard against this type of fall. We establish precautions, rules, guards, covers. We reroute, put up guardrails, and refuse entrance at certain times of year in relation to holes we don’t want to fall into — unless of course it is the Grand Canyon, and then we plan ahead for the long trip down, measured and slow.
Many years ago I met a young man who piloted a two-seater plane with a red nose. It looked like a cartoon version of a puppy. “Want to fly the length of the Grand Canyon under the rim with me?” Today that would be impossible, but then it wasn’t. Today I would be scared. Then I wasn’t. We took off like two adventurers, completely oblivious to the potential danger, holding our breath at the colored veins and wonder of the canyon.
Proverbs 22:14 tells us that “The mouth of a loose woman is a deep pit” — two strong metaphors linked together. Both are deceptively beautiful and dangerous. We discount the loose woman metaphor because she seems far away from us — “across the tracks,” so to speak. But she isn’t.
She is as close as our own thoughts and misplaced intentions. We embody her anytime we dress something up to look like something other than it is. We embody her when we flatter for personal gain or invite others to places or behaviors that are not life-giving. And the hole this leads to is dark and dangerous, although at first glance it is filled with wonder and beauty. Anyone who has fallen into one knows.
The loose woman is not “over there.” She is in our own hearts, tempting us to hide around the corner, speak with ear-tickling words, and “dress for success.” We are the holes that others fall into. Proverbs is describing a truth about a loose woman and a pit.
It could apply to anybody. Everybody. Staying clear of the loose woman or the pit is not as easy as one would think.
—Carla Park, PhD, is assistant vice president for Spiritual Life and Mission at Loma Linda University Health.
